On October 30th, 1938 Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre On The Air broadcasted a dramatization of H.G. Wells' famous tale "War of the Worlds" which recounted a Martian invasion of the Earth. The adaptation includes realistic radio news bulletins informing listeners of the developing saga. A music program was interrupted to brief listeners that an alien object had landed in Grover's Mill, N.J. "News Announcers" describe the terrifying events as they unfold.

Although Welles informed listeners at the start of the program that they were listening to a fictional radio drama, thousands of listeners who tuned in late believed the Earth was indeed under alien attack and panic soon followed.

Welles claimed that the broadcast was never intended to fool people but wished to present a great Halloween tale. It was, he said, "the Mercury Theatre's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying 'boo!'" In either case it indeed turned out to be the greatest Halloween story ever told.

The Free WOTW CD is an audio CD (CD-R) that contains the full 1-hour broadcast (in English) of this infamous radio presentation and will play in any audio CD player, DVD player or computer CD-ROM drive.